Jan 18, 2011

Congratulations to all staff and faculty of Kauai Community College on an excellent start to the semester. The parking lots were full, students and faculty were excited about their classes, and the Natural Sciences Building was ready to go! This term we have several new employees, so be sure to take an extra minute to say hello and help them get settled in our ‘ohana. Despite all the good news, our enrollment is not as strong as we would like it. As of this morning, January 18, our enrollment is down just over 1% from last spring. Please do all you can to accommodate our students and help them feel welcome.

This week the UH System had our hearing with the SenateWays and Means Committee. President Greenwood made the presentation, and all the Chancellors and Vice Presidents were there to answer questions. The presentation went well but, of course, it is too early to know how UH will fare this year in the legislature. Next week, on January 21, we will be presenting the UH testimony to the House Finance Committee.

This past weekend, KCC hosted two important events on campus. First, I invited about 40 stakeholders in agriculture on Kauai to a 1½ day planning session facilitated by Donna Ching from the College of Tropical Agriculture at Manoa. It was an exciting and intense two days, designed to help KCC understand the vision the community has for our role to support the agricultural sector. Those of us from KCC who attended heard loudly and clearly that the community wants us to step up and provide additional resources to support agriculture, including certificates, degrees and demonstration projects. Once we have had a chance to look over the notes from the meeting, we’ll be moving forward. If you’d like to be involved in this effort and have not been contacted, please let me know.

The second event on campus was the Science Olympiad competition for middle and high school students. Students participating have the opportunity to go on to the statewide competition at Leeward Community College in March. The event was cosponsored by the American Association of UniversityWomen, KCC and the Science Olympiad program, now in its 27th year. Events such as these not only help these students develop STEM skills, but also introduce them to KCC.